First, we want to clarify that we are not a shipping company or traditional freight forwarder. We are a China consolidation company providing one-stop consolidation and export services.
Consolidating products from different suppliers into one shipment is one of our core services.
If you are buying products from multiple suppliers in China, there are some differences between working with a consolidation company like us and working directly with a traditional freight forwarder.
China Consolidation Company vs. Freight Forwarder: What’s the Difference?
Here are some of the main differences:
1. Consolidation Service
Many freight forwarders do not specialize in consolidation. Some mainly accept bulk orders that are already prepared as one shipment.
Some forwarders may also charge a warehouse receiving fee for each supplier. Others may not accept small packages or may not provide unloading and handling services for individual packages.
For us, receiving and consolidating goods from multiple suppliers is part of our daily work.
We can receive small packages, cartons, and goods from different suppliers, then consolidate them into one shipment.
This is especially useful if you are buying multiple products or small quantities from China.
2. Product Preparation Service
Before your goods are shipped, you may need additional preparation services, such as:
- Repacking
- Quality checking
- Counting products
- Returning defective or incorrect products to suppliers
- Palletization
- Removing unnecessary packaging
Some freight forwarders may not provide these services, because their main business is transportation.
As a consolidation company, we can handle these preparation services before your goods are shipped.
This means problems can be identified and handled before the goods leave China.
3. Shipping Quotation
When working directly with a freight forwarder, you may receive a shipping quotation before they receive your goods.
However, once your goods are ready, the final price may sometimes increase because of changes in volume, weight, shipping conditions, or other reasons.
If you decide to use another forwarder later, the original warehouse may also charge additional storage or handling fees before the new forwarder picks up your goods.
With us, you have more flexibility.
When your goods are ready, we can check shipping prices with 2–5 freight forwarders we regularly work with and compare the available options for you.
If you are not satisfied with our shipping quotation, you can also use your own freight forwarder.
Your forwarder can pick up the goods directly from our warehouse, or we can arrange domestic delivery to their warehouse in China.
For reference, China domestic transportation is often relatively inexpensive. For some shipments, you can use around $50/CBM as a rough reference, although the actual cost depends on the location, volume, weight, and transportation method.
4. Goods Pickup
Some Chinese suppliers quote an EXW price, which means the buyer or their logistics provider needs to arrange pickup from the supplier.
Some freight forwarders can arrange supplier pickup, while others may not provide this service.
We can arrange pickup for you when it makes sense.
For example, if a supplier has more than 1 CBM of goods ready, arranging pickup may be more cost-effective.
For very small shipments, it is usually not necessary to arrange a dedicated pickup. In those cases, asking the supplier to send the goods to our warehouse by domestic delivery may be more economical.
5. Shipping Fee Payment
Many freight forwarders only accept shipping payments through bank transfer or other offline payment methods.
For some international buyers, this can be less convenient.
For eligible shipments, we can accept shipping cost payments through Alibaba, with an additional 3% transfer fee.
However, this does not apply to sensitive products.
For example, branded products, liquids, batteries, powders, and other sensitive goods may have additional customs and transportation risks. Customs may inspect or seize certain types of sensitive cargo, so these products need to be evaluated before shipment.
6. Additional Sourcing and Purchasing Services
Another important difference is that we are not only handling your goods after they arrive at the warehouse.
We can also provide China sourcing and purchasing services.
For example, if you find products on 1688, Alibaba, Taobao, or other Chinese platforms, we can help with sourcing, purchasing, supplier communication, and payment before the goods are sent to our warehouse.
Most traditional freight forwarders focus on logistics and transportation rather than sourcing and purchasing.
This allows us to provide a more complete sourcing + consolidation solution.
7. Export Documentation
Some Chinese suppliers mainly sell to the domestic market and may not have an export license or the ability to provide the export documents you need.
Some freight forwarders may also not provide export documentation services for certain types of shipments.
We can help coordinate the necessary export documentation and export process, depending on the products, shipment structure, and destination country.
This can be particularly useful when you purchase products from multiple Chinese suppliers and want to consolidate everything into one export shipment.
Consolidation Company vs. Freight Forwarder: Which One Should You Choose?
If you already have a large shipment from one supplier and only need international transportation, a traditional freight forwarder may be all you need.
But if you are buying from multiple suppliers, multiple SKUs, or with small quantities, and you need services such as consolidation, inspection, repacking, supplier returns, pickup, purchasing, and export documentation, a consolidation company may be a better fit.
Our role is not to replace every freight forwarder.
Instead, we can prepare and consolidate your goods first, and then work with suitable freight forwarders—or your own forwarder—to handle the international shipping.